Wrapper selector and dispenser

ABSTRACT

Wrapper selector and dispenser enabling the selection of any one of a plurality of widths or grades of wrapper sheets to be wrapped about a roll of paper. The selector is in the form of a carriage guided for vertical movement relative to a pair of feed rolls. The carriage is provided with guides guiding the wrapper sheets toward a common throat at the bottom of the carriage, and a gripper associated with each guide, to advance a selected sheet of paper to the feed rolls upon lowering movement of the carriage. A sheet holder which may be energized to engage all of the wrapper sheets projecting beneath the throat of the carriage is provided to hold the sheets upon return movement of the carriage, to maintain the wrapper sheets under tension and prevent disturbance of the wrapper sheets as the carriage moves in a return direction. The selector further includes a cut-off knife operable to cut the wrapper sheets to length, and sheet take up devices to retract the wrapper sheets from the knife after cutting, and a pressure nip between the take up devices and sheets to prevent the sheets from feeding back to the unwind stands by their own weight.

United States Patent Becker Sept. 5, 1972 [54] WRAPPER SELECTOR AND DISPENSER [72] Inventor: James F. Becker, Wilmington, Del.

[73] Assignee: Downingtown Division, Beloit Corporation, Downingtown, Pa.

22 Filed: Feb. 4, 1971 211 Appl.No.: 112,686

[52] US. Cl. ..226/92, 226/l 10, 83/272 [51 Int. Cl. ..B65h 29/10 [58] Field of Search ..83/40l, 416, 436, 437-, 650,

Primary IixaminerAllen N. Knowles Attorney-Hill, Shennan, Meroni, Gross & Simpson [57] ABSTRACT Wrapper selector and dispenser enabling the selection of any one of a plurality of widths or grades of wrapper sheets to be wrapped about a roll of paper. The selector is in the form of a carriage guided for vertical movement relative to a pair of feed rolls. The carriage is provided with guides guiding the wrapper sheets toward a common throat at the bottom of the carriage, and a gripper associated with each guide, to advance a selected sheet of paper to the feed rolls upon lowering movement of the carriage. A sheet holder which may be energized to engage all of the wrapper sheets projecting beneath the throat of the carriage is provided to hold the sheets upon return movement of the carriage, to maintain the wrapper sheets under tension and prevent disturbance of the wrapper sheets as the carriage moves in a return direction. The selector further includes a cut-off knife operable to-cut the wrapper sheets to length, and sheet take up devices to retract the wrapper Sheets from the knife after cutting, and a pressure nip between the take up devices and sheets to prevent the sheets from feeding back to the unwind stands by their own weight.

17 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDSEP 5 m2 sum 3 OF 3 I VEXTOR.

M65 2? 56cm WRAPPER SELECTOR AND DISPENSER FIELD OF THE INVENTION Wrapper selector and dispenser for selecting and dispensing wrapper sheets to be wrapped about a roll of paper.

BACKGROUND, SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION Heretofore, wrapper dispensers have been provided for selecting wrappers to wrap rolls of paper as the rolls come from the paper mill. With these'wrappers, a pair of feed rollers is provided for each wrapper sheet. One roller of each pair is connected to a common drive through a series of chains and sprockets. Each of the driven rollers is connected to the drive by means of an electric clutch. The wrapper sheets are brought to a common throat at the bottom of the dispenser through an intricate series of narrow width guides, commonly referred to as finger guides. These guides separate the sheets from one another and are mounted on cross bars and can be adjusted to the particular width of the wrapper they are guiding.

In conventional dispensers, these guides are necessary because after the sheets leave feed rollers they are pushed through the dispenser. The natural tendency of the sheets to curl and to snag on each other would cause jam ups in the dispenser. Cut off knives and gluing devices are disposed below the guides and it is necessary to reverse the drive and back the sheet away from the knife in order to clear the knife area for the next sheet to be cut. Such wrapper dispensers are relatively complicated, expensive, require a great deal of room, and are costly to maintain.

The advantage of wrapper dispenser and selector of the present invention over the foregoing forms of wrapper dispensers are that it utilizes only one set of feed rollers for allthe wrapper sheets and provides a simple selecting device to grip the proper sheet and insert it between this single set of feed rollers. It also eliminates the complicated drive transmission of conventional dispensers including the chains, sprockets, and electric clutches heretofore necessary, and provides a gravity type sheet take up device to retract the sheet from the knife, making it unnecessary to reverse the drive.

A principal object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a simplified form of dispenser and wrapper for selecting wide sheets of wrapping paper and bodily moving with a selected sheet to supply the sheet for wrapping and render the chain, sprockets, electric clutches and selectively operable controls heretofore required in conventional wrapper selectors unnecessary.

Another object of the invention is to improve upon prior wrapper selectors and dispensers, by providing a gripper carriage selectively operable to grip and supply a selected wrapper to be advanced to attain a wrapping operation by rectilinear movement of the carriage towards a pair of feed rollers.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a simple and improved form of translationally movable wrapper carrier for selecting and advancing a preselected sheet for wrapping purposes and arranged with a view toward utmost simplicity in construction and operation.

A further and important object of this invention is to provide a wrapper selector so arranged as to isolate the function of selection from the function of feeding and thereby simplify the machine and the wrapper selection function thereof.

Another object of the invention is to so arranged the selector as to position the feed rollers below the area where the sheets are guided to a common throat to pull the sheet through the dispenser in place of pushing the sheet through the dispenser as in conventional dispensers.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a wrapper dispenser and selector which has fewer moving parts and a more simplified control sequence for less maintenance and a more dependable, trouble-free operation than conventional wrapper dispensers.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a more compact selecting and dispensing unit which is more easily adapted to installation in existing manual systems and particularly adapted to situations where head room is at a premium.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of a certain preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view schematically illustrating a wrapper selector and dispenser operating in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION FIG. 1 of the drawings generally shows a plurality of rolls of wrapping paper or sheet W. Each roll is shown as being supported on a through shaft 10, mounted at its opposite ends on free-wheeling rollers 11 of a roll stand. A vertically movable selector carriage l2 centrally located between the rolls and roll stands therefor is provided to select a wrapper sheet W of the required width. As for example, a wrapper sheet W is trained from a roll adjacent and just to the left of the selector carriage 12. The wrapper sheet travels under an idler 13 and over an idler roller 14, then under a gravity actuated take up bar 15. The take up bar 15 is slightly longer than the widest sheet'to be used for wrapping and is mounted on the ends of parallel spaced arms 14a, diagrammatically shown as freely pivotally movable about the axis of the idler roller 14. The take up bar 15 is biased by gravity into engagement with a nip angle 15b. From the take up bar, the sheet is trained over a stationary bar 15a to and through the selector carriage l2.

Engagement of the take up bar with the nip angle 15b permits travel of a selected wrapper sheet in a pay off direction, as required for feeding in that it accommodates tension on the wrapper sheet to pull the take up bar away from the nip angle 15b and release the sheet for forward or pay off travel. The nip angle 15b, therefore, prevents backward movement of the sheet out of the dispenser, which may be caused by the weight of the wrapper sheet as trained from its roll.

The arms 14a, take up bar 15 on the ends of said arms stationary bar 15a and nip angle 15b are diagrammatically shown in FIG. 1a as training one web or sheet W to a selector carriage 12. it should be understood, however, that stationary bars 15a, nip angles 15b, take up bars 15 on pivotal arms 14a are provided for training each web or sheet from its roll to the selector carriage l2, and only one series of take up bars, nip angles, and stationary bars is shown herein for the purpose of simplicity.

A suitable brake (not shown) such as an air brake may be associated with each wrapper stand to maintain tension on the wrapper sheets as being paid off from their respective rolls. Such brakes are conventional with wrapper stands and are no part of the present invention, so need not herein be shown or described further. The brake maintaining tension on the wrapper sheets when being paid off from their rolls tends to straighten the particular sheet in the area leading into the wrapper selector and to pull the take up bar up and maintain it in a raised position, the tension on the sheet overcoming the weight of the take up bar.

Thus, when tension is applied to the sheet, the take up bar moves in an upward direction and as tension is released, as by the cuttingof a sheet, the take up bar pulls the sheet back through the carriage free from a cut-off knife 79.

The wrapper sheet on the first roll on the right-hand side of the carriage 12 has its sheet or web trained from the bottom of the roll, over a tension idler 14, between a take up bar 15 and nip angle 15b and over a stationary bar 15a in the space between two guide bars 16, and 17, downwardly from the lower guide bar and along the selector carriage 12 through the throat 19. The rollers of wrapper sheet on the outer sides of the rolls just mentioned have wrapper sheets W trained therefrom over tension idlers 14 between take up bars 15 and nip angles 15b and over stationary bars 150 to the dispenser and selector carriage 12. As for example, the rolls just outside of the first rolls have their sheets W trained between guide bars 17 and 21 on opposite sides of the carriage 12. The next outwardly spaced rolls have their sheets trained between guide bars 21 and 22 and the outermost rolls have their sheets W trained between guide bars 22 and 23. Wrapper sheets trained from these rolls between the respective guide bars are all trained to passthrough the throat 19 and to depend from said throat and carriage beneath a sheet clamp 75, .and a selected distance above the cut-off knife 79. This distance may be in the order of between one-half and 1% inches above said cut-off knife. All of the wrapper sheets are trained to stop at this distance from the cutwrapper roll stand supports a particular width of wrapper sheet for wrapping rolls in the width range of from 12 to 20 inches less than the width of the wrapper. As for example, the roll stands may support rolls carrying wrapper sheets to wrap a rewound roll coming from the mill, and may be at least 120 inches wide to wrap rolls in the width range of between 100 and 108 inches.

' As shown herein, eight different widths or grades of wrapper sheet may be dispensed by the simple clamping of a preselected sheet between its associated guide bars and then moving the wrapper and selector carriage 12 to position the selected sheet between a pair of feed rolls 24 and 25 driven by power to advance the sheet to be applied to a roll R, to be wrapped, and supported on a roll stand 26.

The carriage 12 includes a pair of parallel spaced side plates 27 shown as being generally triangular in form in side elevation, and having the guide bars 16,16,17,17 and 21,21 to 23,23 therebetween and suitably supported on said side plates. Piston rods 29 extensible from cylinders 30,30, extend upwardly from a horizontal plate or beam 38 of a stationary frame 31, for the dispenser and selector. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, each cylinder 30 has a pair of ears 32 depending therefrom and extending along opposite sides of an ear 33 extending upwardly of a plate 38, and pivotally connected to said ears as by a pivot pin 35. The piston rods 29 may be connected with the end plates 27 as by pivot pins 36. Guide rods 37 extend vertically along the outer sides of the end plates 27 between the cylinders 30,30 and are suitably mounted in blocks 39 at their lower ends mounted on and extending upwardly of the plate or beam 38, and in blocks 40 at their upper ends. The blocks 40 are mounted on top plates 41 of the frame 31 and extend inwardly of said frame members 42 of the stationary frame 31. Vertically spaced guide blocks 43 are secured to and extend outwardly of side plates 27 of the carriage 12, adjacent the upper and lower ends of said side plates. The guide blocks 43 have bearings 45 carried thereby and slidably movable along the guide rod 37, and guiding the carriage for vertical movement in a rectilinear path.

Safety latching levers 47 are provided at each side of the selector carriage 12 for holdingsaid selector carriage 12in its uppermost position. The safety latches on each side of the selector carriage are the same, so only one of said safety latches need herein be shown and described. The latching lever 47 is pivoted to the block a 40 intermediate its ends on a pivot pin 48, and has a generally hooked shaped latching lever end 49 engageable with the underside of the upper block 43 and generally conforming to an inclined outer side of said block, diverging from the plate 27 as it extends downwardly along said block. The latching lever 47 extends upwardly of the block 40 and has an upper end portion 50 extending upwardly of the block 40 and pivoted to a piston rod 51 on a pivot pin 52. The piston rod is extensible from a cylinder 53, pivotally mounted between the vertical legs of a pair of spaced angles 55, on trunnion pins 56. The cylinder 53 may be an air cylinder operable to release the latching levers 47, upon the admission of air to the piston rod ends of said cylinders, and to engage the latches by the admission of fluid under pressure to the head ends of said cylinders. Springs or other biasing means may also be used to engage the latches.

connected An equalizing shaft 57 is provided to equalize vertical travel of both sides of the carriage 12 upon raising and lowering movement thereof (FIG. 3). Said equalizing shaft extends across the carriage 12 beyond opposite sides and is rotatably supported thereon on bearing blocks 59. A pinion 60 is keyed or otherwise secured to each end of said shaft. The pinions 60 mesh with vertical racks 61 mounted on the blocks 40 at their upper ends and depend from said blocks. The lower ends of the rack 61 are mounted on plates 62 extending inwardly of the side plate 42 of the frame 31. The racks 61 and pinions 60 thus assure that the two sides of the carriage move upwardly and downwardly in the same planes.

The guide bars 16,17,21 and 22 are shown as having rectangular channels 63 extending along the undersides thereof closed at their outer ends and having inflatable diaphragms 65 sealed thereto. Separate fluid pressure lines lead to said channels for supplying fluid under pressure thereto under the control of suitable valve means (not shown) to enable inflation of a selected inflatable seal to grip a sheet of wrapping paper against a next adjacent guide bar, and clamp the sheet to move with the carriage and lower the sheet to come into the space between the two feed rolls 24 and 25. The inflatable diaphragms are of the self-retracting type and materially simplify the gripper structure required for the wrapper selector. The valves controlling the admission and release of fluid pressure to the diaphragms, and the fluid pressure connections to the valves and from the valves to the inflatable diaphragms may be of various conventional forms, and form no part of the present invention so need not herein be shown or described further.

A pair of sheet guides 70, formed of bent steel plates are connected between the side plates 27 and lead downward and inwardly from the two lowermost nip tubes or guide bars 23, 23 and form the throat 19 through which all of the sheets W converge and pass.

A sheet holder 71 is mounted on the frame 31 beneath the throat 19 to engage the sheets of wrapping paper guided between the guide members l6,17,21,22 and 23 and along the throat 19, to engage and hold the wrapper sheets in position and under tension upon return travel of the selector carriage l2 and to thereby prevent the sheets from being disturbed by the selector carriage 12 during its return travel. The sheet holder 71 includes a shoe 72 diverging from an apex thereof as it extends downwardly into an abutment face 73 in alignment with the right-hand side of the throat opening 19. The sheet holder 71 also includes a clamping bar 75 on the ends of laterally spaced piston rods 76. The clamping member 75 may extend for substantially the width of the widest wrapper sheets. The piston rods 76, and cylinders 77 may be disposed adjacent each end of said clamping bar. The cylinders 77 may be double acting air cylinders having pistons (not shown) therein on the inner ends of the piston rods 76, for bringing the clamping bar 75 into engagement with the sheets of paper depending from the throat 19, and cooperating with the abutment surface 73 of the shoe 72 to hold the sheets of paper as the selector carriage 12 is raised and prior to dispensing of a sheet to length by the feed rolls 24 and 25. The sheet holder thus keeps the wrapper sheets under tension and in position and prevents the sheets from being disturbed or moved by the selector during its return travel.

Beneath the sheet holder 71 is a cut-off knife 79 extending for the width of the widest sheet to be dispensed and effective to cut the wrapper to a required length. The knife 79 is supported on a support member 80 suitably guided for movement toward and from an anvil 81, disposed beneath the guide shoe 72, and is moved into cooperate relationship with respect to the anvil 81 to slit a preselected sheet of paper to length by the admission of fluid under pressure, such as air, to air cylinders 84 suitably mounted on the frame 31 at opposite sides thereof.

The cylinders 84 are on the opposite side of the throat 19 from the knife 79 and each has a piston rod 85 extensible therefrom, having a connector yoke 86 on its outer end, connected with the slidable support member 83 as by a pivot pin 87. Equalizer means (not shown) may be provided to assure that the edge of the cut-off knife is parallel to the wrapper sheet as it shears the wrapper sheet to length.

The knife 79 is actuated to cut the wrapper on the fly to accurate lengths. In order to achieve this the air cylinders 84 are longer than the stroke required to shear the sheet and the stroke of each piston and piston rod is restricted by a stop tube (not shown) at the rod end of the cylinder to limit travel of the piston rod to the required working stroke. This provides an air chamber at the rod end of the cylinder for preloading the cylinder. When the knife is to be fired, air is suddenly released from the head ends of the cylinders, firing the knife. For safety reasons the knife cylinders are not loaded until a few seconds before firing. The valves and controls for firing the piston rods may be various forms well known to those skilled in the art so not shown herein.

The roll 25 is rotatably joumalled adjacent its opposite ends in bearing supports 88 slidably guided on the underside of the plate 30 of the frame 31 for movement toward and from the roll 24. The roll 25 is moved into pressure nip engagement with the roll 24 by activa tion of the laterally spacedfluid pressure cylinders 89. The cylinders 89 are trunnioned in parallel spaced plates 90, as by horizontal trunnion pins 91. Piston rods 92 extend from pistons (not shown) in the cylinders 89, and have couplers 93 on their ends, pivotally connected with connectors 94 extending rearwardly of the bearing supports 88, as by pivot pins 95. The roll 24 is suitably joumalled in bearing supports 96 in direct horizontal alignment with the roll 25. The roll 24 is diagrammatically shown as driven from a belt 100, suitably driven from an external source of power.

A glue applicator 104 may be provided to glue the trailing end of the sheet as wrapped about a roll R. The glue applicator 104 is shown as being in the form of a glue trough or pot 105, having a power driven roll 106 rotatably mounted to'extend therein and pick up glue from the glue trough and transfer it to a glue roll 103. The glue roll 103 is moved to engage the trailing end of a wrapper sheet and apply glue thereto in a manner well known to those skilled in the art so not herein shown or described further. A sensing device (not shown), may be mounted on the glue applicator 104 to detect the trailing edge of the wrapper and effect energization of a cylinder 107 to move the roll 103 into engagement with the sheet to apply glue thereto. The application of glue to the wrapper may be controlled by a timer (not shown) connected in a control circuit, to

retract the glue roll as a required quantity of glue has been applied to the wrapper. The glue roll and control for the roll are no part of the present invention so need not herein be shown or described further.

In setting the machine up for a selective wrapping operation, the wrapper sheets are initially threaded over the leading idler rollers 14, under the take up bars 15, over thestationary bars 15a, through the wrapper selector carriage 12, between the guide bars 16,-17,2l,22 and 23 on each side of said carriage, and are guided downwardly through the throat 19, and beneath the discharge end of said throat below the sheet clamps with all the ends stopping in the range of between one-half to 1% inches above the cut-off knife 79.

The operator may then select, as by a pushbutton (not shown), any one of eight wrapper widths or types to be dispensed by the dispenser. This willsupply fluid under pressure to a selected diaphragm 65 to close the 'gap between two guide bars. The entire selector car- As the carriage reaches its full down position, a limit switch 109 (FIG. 3) spaced inwardly of the side frame member 42 of the frame 31 and mounted thereon, may then be tripped by engagement with a camming surface 110 of a plate 111 extending outwardly of the side frame member 12. This will effect the release of pressure from a selected diaphragm and the release of the selected wrapper sheet. At the same time, fluid under pressure is admitted to the head ends of the cylinders 89 to extend the roll 25 to provide a pressure nip engaging the selected wrapper sheet with the roll 24. The sheet holder 71 is also energized at this time to engage the clamping bar 75 with the wrapper sheets extending downwardly along the abutment face 73 of the shoe 72. This will hold the wrapper sheets in position under tension as the carriage 12 returns and will prevent the sheets from being disturbed or moved by the said selector carriage 12 upon return movement thereof. The limit switch 109 is also effective to admit fluid under pressure to the head ends of the carriage cylinders 30 causing the selector carriage to return to its up position. The limit switch 109 is further effective to supply fluid under pressure to the head ends of the knife cylinders 84 to preload said cylinders in preparation for firing the knife. For safety purposes the knife is not preloaded until this point in the sequence of operations.

Asv mentioned before, the wrapper sheets, prior to entering the selector carriage 12, are threaded over idler rollers 14 and under take up bars 15 which rest on nip angles 15b. The sheets are then threaded between the take up bars and the nip angles. The sheets are then threaded over the stationary bars 15a and then into the selector carriage between the respective guide members or bars or nip tubes 16,17, etc. This lead in arrangement to the selector carriage maintains a constant position of all of the wrapper sheets in the dispenser. The weight of the take up bats nips the sheet against the nip angles 15b and permits movement of the wrapper sheets in a forward direction, as required for feeding, because the tension on the wrapper sheet will pull the take up bar up away from the nip angle and release the sheet for forward travel. The function of the nip angles 15b, therefore, is to prevent backward movement of the sheets out of the dispenser, caused by the weight of the wrapper sheets in their runs from the various roll stands. The function of the take up bars is to retract the sheet from the knife and return the end of the selected sheet to its normal position in the range of between one-half to 1% inches above the knife 79.

As the selector carriage makes its return movement upward, a limit switch is tipped by the leg of an angle mounted to the side frame of the wrapper selector 27. This limit switch is tripped approximately 2 inches before the carriage has reached its full up position. This causes the sheet holder 71 to be released, the feed rollers 24 and 25 to begin driving, and energizes the feed roller drive timer (not shown) which immediately starts to drive the feed rollers 25 and 24 for a timed interval corresponding to the diameter of the roller R which is to be wrapped.

The timer setting may be effected by the operator by use of a potentiometer (not shown) calibrated to roll diameter. It can also be effected by automatic sensing equipment prior to the rolls entry into the wrapping station. As the selector carriage continues its upward travel and about 1 inch before it reaches the top of its travel, a third limit switch (not shown) is tripped. This limit switch energizes solenoids which send fluid pressure to the clamping diaphragms 65 which clamp or grip all of the wrapper sheets except the one being fed. And as the carriage continues to the end of its travel, it picks up all the wrapper sheets, except the one being fed, about one-half inch to assure clearance for the cutoff knife 79 so said cut-ofi' knife will definitely pass through only one sheet. The gripper diaphragms are released when the knife fires. After the drive timer for the feed rollers has timed out, it stops the drive and fires the knife 79.

Operation of the feed rollers 24 and 25 feeds the selected wrapper sheet downwardly toward the roll to be wrapped. At the same time the wrapper feed roller drive is initiated, the drive for the wrapping drums 26 is also energized. The wrapper sheet is fed to travel downward and around the roll, R to be wrapped and is inserted in the nip between the roll R and a wrapping drum 26. After passing through the nips of both wrapping drums, the wrapper sheet is guided around the roll and tucked in. At this point, the cut-off knife 79 is fired to cut off the sheet leaving a small amount of overlap, generally about 12 inches, which is glued by operation of the glue roll 103 or is taped to the outer surface of the leading edge of the wrapper, in such a way that the wrapper completely encircles the roll R and overlaps itself by about 12 inches.

The gluing operation may be of various conventional forms so need not herein be shown or described further. The means for guiding the sheet into the nip between the roll R and the wrapping drum 26 is also not a part of the present invention so need not herein be shown or described.

After the knife has fired and cut off the wrapper sheet to a predetermined length, the wrapper drums 26 continue to rotate for an adjustably timed interval to assure that the trailing edge of the wrapper drum passes through the nip, and effects the glue seal to complete the wrapping operation.

It should be understood that while some of the controls for the dispenser and selector have generally been described, that the controls mentioned are suggestive only, and have beenvmentioned primarily to suggest an operating procedure of a complete system, but are no part of the present invention, so need not herein be shown or described further.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a wrapper selector and dispenser adapted to preselect a wrapper sheet from a single roll of a series of rolls of wrapper sheets, and to dispense the sheet for wrapping a roll of paper and the like,

a pair of feed rolls,

a selector carriage spaced from said feed rolls,

said selector carriage having a throat opening to said feed rolls,

a series of spaced guide members carried by said carriage,

the spaces between said guide members serving as guides for wrapper sheets,

gripper means associated with certain of said guide members and selectively operable to grip a preselected sheet,

means translationally moving said carriage toward and from said feed rolls to advance a gripped sheet toward said feed rolls while the other sheets remain in position, as said carriage moves towards said feed rolls, and

means maintaining the sheets undertension during movement of said carriage in dispensing and return directions.

2. A wrapper selector and dispenser in accordance with claim 1,

wherein the means maintaining the sheets under tension comprise guide means and a take up member for each wrapper sheet, disposed outside of said selector on the incoming side thereof, and means cooperating with said take up member to prevent withdrawal of the sheet from said selector carriage, due to the weight of the sheet trained thereto.

3. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 2, including a sheet holder disposed beneath said carriage to grip and hold all of the sheets advanced thereto by said carriage, with the selected sheet beneath the others during return travel of said carriage.

4. A wrapper selector and dispenser in accordance with claim 1,

wherein the gripper means are fluid pressure operated and extend for a substantial part of the length of said guide members. I

5. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 4,

wherein the gripper means comprise inflatable selfretracting diaphragms extending for greater portions of the lengths of the associated guide members.

6. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 4, wherein the means moving the carriage toward and from the feed rolls comprise fluid pressure operated cylinders and pistons.

7. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 5, including a stationary frame, and

wherein the fluid pressure operated cylinders and pistons are mounted on said stationary frame and have supporting and elevating and lowering connection with said carriage.

8. The wrapper selector dispenser of claim 7, in- Y cluding at least one safety latch mounted on said stationary frame and selectively operable to hold the carriage in an elevated position relative to said feed rolls.

9. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 7, including equalizing members carried by said carriage and cooperating with said stationary frame to equalize vertical travel of said carriage, and guide members carried by said stationary frame, and having guiding engagement with opposite ends of said carriage.

10. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 7,

including a sheet holder disposed between said throat and feed rolls for holding the sheets under tension upon return travel of said carriage, said sheet holder including a stationary guide and abutment shoe, a clamping shoe movable toward said guide and abutment shoe, for clamping a series of wrapper sheets thereto, and fluid pressure cylinders and pistons for moving said clamping shoe toward and from said guide and abutment shoe.

1]. A wrapper selector and dispenser carriage comprising:

a pair of side frame members,

means connecting said side frame members in parallel relation relative to each other,

a stationary frame, 7

means guiding said carriage on said stationary frame for translational movement along, said stationary frame,

other means connected between said carriage and stationary frame selectively operable to translationally move said carriage relative to said stationary frame,

a plurality of parallel spaced guide bars connected between said side frame members and forming guides for wrapper sheets in the spaces therebetween,

gripper members carried by certain of said guide bars and operable to close the space between two selected of said guide bars to grip a sheet therebetween and advance a sheet downwardly upon lowering movement of said carriage, and

a downwardly opening throat guiding all of the wrapper sheets to be trained to pass beneath said carriage.

12. A wrapper selector and dispenser carriage in ,ac-

cordance with claim 1 l wherein the gripper members are fluid pressure operated at the selection of the operator of the machine.

13. A wrapper selector and dispenser carriage in accordance with claim 11,

wherein the gripper members include inflatable selfreturning diaphragms carried by certain of said guide bars and extending for a substantial part of the length thereof and selectively inflatable by the admission of fluid under pressure thereto, to grip and hold a wrapper sheet between two of said bars at the selection of the operator of the machine.

14. A wrapper selector and dispenser carriage in accordance with claim 13, including fluid pressure operated cylinders and pistons for supporting and moving said carriage vertically into sheet dispensing and retracted positions.

ried by said stationary frame and extending vertically therealong for a portion of the height thereof.

17. The wrapper selector and dispenser carriage of claim 15, including safety latches carried by said stationary frame, and keepers engaged by said latches and holding said selector carriage in an upwardly extended position relative to said stationary frame, and selectively operable to release said keeper means and accommodate lowering movement of said carriage. 

1. In a wrapper selector and dispenser adapted to preselect a wrapper sheet from a single roll of a series of rolls of wrapper sheets, and to dispense the sheet for wrapping a roll of paper and the like, a pair of feed rolls, a selector carriage spaced from said feed rolls, said selector carriage having a throat opening to said feed rolls, a series of spaced guide members carried by said carriage, the spaces between said guide members serving as guides for wrapper sheets, gripper means associated with certain of said guide members and selectively operable to grip a preselected sheet, means translationally moving said carriage toward and from said feed rolls to advance a gripped sheet toward said feed rolls while the other sheets remain in position, as said carriage moves towards said feed rolls, and means maintaining the sheets under tension during movement of said carriage in dispensing and return directions.
 2. A wrapper selector and dispenser in accordance with claim 1, wherein the means maintaining the sheets under tension comprise guide means and a take up member for each wrapper sheet, disposed outside of said selector on the incoming side thereof, and means cooperating with said take up member to prevent withdrawal of the sheet from said selector carriage, due to the weight of the sheet trained thereto.
 3. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 2, including a sheet holder disposed beneath said carriage to grip and hold all of the sheets advanced thereto by said carriage, with the selected sheet beneath the others during return travel of said carriage.
 4. A wrapper selector and dispenser in accordance with claim 1, wherein the gripper means are fluid pressure operated and extend for a substantial part of the length of said guide members.
 5. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 4, wherein the gripper means comprise inflatable self-retracting diaphragms extending for greater portions of the lengths of the associated guide members.
 6. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 4, wherein the means moving the carriage toward and from the feed rolls comprise fluid pressure operated cylinders and pistons.
 7. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 5, including a stationary frame, and wherein the fluid pressure operated cylinders and pistons are mounted on said stationary frame and have supporting and elevating and lowering connection with said carriage.
 8. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 7, including at least one safety latch mounted on said stationary frame and selectively operable to hold the carriage in an elevated position relative to said feed rolls.
 9. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 7, including equalizing members carried bY said carriage and cooperating with said stationary frame to equalize vertical travel of said carriage, and guide members carried by said stationary frame, and having guiding engagement with opposite ends of said carriage.
 10. The wrapper selector and dispenser of claim 7, including a sheet holder disposed between said throat and feed rolls for holding the sheets under tension upon return travel of said carriage, said sheet holder including a stationary guide and abutment shoe, a clamping shoe movable toward said guide and abutment shoe, for clamping a series of wrapper sheets thereto, and fluid pressure cylinders and pistons for moving said clamping shoe toward and from said guide and abutment shoe.
 11. A wrapper selector and dispenser carriage comprising: a pair of side frame members, means connecting said side frame members in parallel relation relative to each other, a stationary frame, means guiding said carriage on said stationary frame for translational movement along said stationary frame, other means connected between said carriage and stationary frame selectively operable to translationally move said carriage relative to said stationary frame, a plurality of parallel spaced guide bars connected between said side frame members and forming guides for wrapper sheets in the spaces therebetween, gripper members carried by certain of said guide bars and operable to close the space between two selected of said guide bars to grip a sheet therebetween and advance a sheet downwardly upon lowering movement of said carriage, and a downwardly opening throat guiding all of the wrapper sheets to be trained to pass beneath said carriage.
 12. A wrapper selector and dispenser carriage in accordance with claim 11, wherein the gripper members are fluid pressure operated at the selection of the operator of the machine.
 13. A wrapper selector and dispenser carriage in accordance with claim 11, wherein the gripper members include inflatable self-returning diaphragms carried by certain of said guide bars and extending for a substantial part of the length thereof and selectively inflatable by the admission of fluid under pressure thereto, to grip and hold a wrapper sheet between two of said bars at the selection of the operator of the machine.
 14. A wrapper selector and dispenser carriage in accordance with claim 13, including fluid pressure operated cylinders and pistons for supporting and moving said carriage vertically into sheet dispensing and retracted positions.
 15. A wrapper selector and dispenser carriage in accordance with claim 14, including equalizing means connected between said carriage and opposite sides of said stationary frame for equalizing vertical travel of said carriage.
 16. A wrapper selector and dispenser carriage in accordance with claim 15, in which the equalizing means includes a shaft carried by said carriage and journalled for free rotation relative thereto, pinions on the outer ends of said shaft spaced outwardly of said side frame members and racks meshed with said pinions and carried by said stationary frame and extending vertically therealong for a portion of the height thereof.
 17. The wrapper selector and dispenser carriage of claim 15, including safety latches carried by said stationary frame, and keepers engaged by said latches and holding said selector carriage in an upwardly extended position relative to said stationary frame, and selectively operable to release said keeper means and accommodate lowering movement of said carriage. 